By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson, at the July 16th City Council meeting, stepped back from any perception that the City of Apopka is preparing to purchase or financially rescue the golf course lands at Rock Springs Ridge or Errol Estate.
Related: Déjà vu all over again: Is the City assisting Rock Springs Ridge in buying its golf course lands?
The discussion began when Commissioner Diane Velazquez raised concerns about conflicting messages. Earlier this month, 5th Hole Investments, owners of the Errol Estate golf course lands, sent an email to city officials offering to sell the property to the City for $6.5 million.
“Errol Estate did send us an email, asking us as a city to buy their property," Velazquez said. “I sent an email to our City Administrator, and he responded saying that, ‘We did not…’”
“You got the same email at the same time as I did," Nelson said.
“I know that, but when I asked him, ‘Was the Mayor considering it?’ the response I got was that at this time, he did not know that we were considering it," Velazquez said.
At the same time, Rock Springs Ridge residents have been discussing comments from a recent Homeowners Association meeting. According to multiple sources, John Smith of the HOA board said he had met with Nelson and that the mayor was supportive of a $7 million bond to help with the RSR golf course.
Velazquez said she had seen reporting on the meeting in The Apopka Voice and wanted clarity.
“There was no indication,” Velazquez said. “The HOA president said that you would entertain it, that you wouldsupport it for the seven-million-dollar bond, but when The Apopka Voice asked you, there was not a thing said.”
Nelson pushed back.
“About being entertained… we haven’t,” Nelson said. “Until we have something to look at, we can’t entertain anything. We want to help Rock Springs Ridge. We want to help the Errol residents in any way possible. But I’m not going to risk the financial stability of the City to do it. So, we’ll see where it goes. I don’t know.”
Velazquez emphasized that both properties are private.
“Those are both private golf courses,” she said.
“Correct,” Nelson replied.
“I feel, and I wrote this on Facebook and Next Door Neighbor, that it is a private matter that should be handled between the HOA, the Golf Group, and the membership of the community,” Velazquez said.
“I agree with you,” Nelson said.
Velazquez also expressed concern that history could repeat itself.
“We’ve had past history where things didn’t go right and there was a miscommunication where both Rock Springs Ridge and Errol Estate residents believed that we were going to be this middle brokerage to negotiate,” she said.
Nelson compared the situation to the city’s previous involvement with Emerson Park.
“I wouldn’t say they’re any different than what we did for Emerson Park," he said. "I mean, different funding, but we want to help. We wanted to help Emerson Park, so we helped them with the process. We helped them shepherd it through the process. If we can help Rock Springs Ridge, if we can help Errol shepherd something through the process, I think we’d all say that’s something we’d like to do. What that looks like? I don’t know. I haven’t seen it.”
Finance Director Blanche Sherman also addressed questions about the City’s borrowing capacity. She said the Emerson Park loan was filed in a way that avoided certain federal arbitrage requirements.
“There’s a limit of how much debt you can issue that would be exempt from that requirement, and that’s the five million,” Sherman said. “We can still continue to borrow money. So let me clarify that. It’s just that limit. If we borrow more money in this calendar year, that may change that position for them, and then I’d have to track the arbitrage situation if one exists, but I don’t foresee it.”
“We want to help them any way we can,” Nelson said. But he agreed with Velazquez that the future of the Rock Springs Ridge and Errol golf course properties remains, for now, a private matter.
